The Central and National Support Services for eTwinning (CSS and NSS) met in Brussels from 5-7 February for the first management and work group meeting of the new phase of eTwinning.

In the new phase of eTwinning (2008-2014), the Action is again being coordinated by European Schoolnet following a call for tender by the European Commission in 2007. To mark the launch of this second phase, the CSS, NSS and newly formed eTwinning Steering Committee met in Brussels to discuss and plan future activities.

On the first day, the general management meeting focused on the overall coordination and planning of eTwinning in the second phase. Presentations where made by Brian Holmes, Head of Unit at the Executive Agency; Adam Pokorny, Head of Unit at the European Commission; and members of the CSS team.

As the main highlight of development in this new phase, the eTwinning Action will move from a project-focused initiative to a community-focused one where schools can, in addition to running projects, share knowledge and participate in discussion platforms.

During the second and third days of meetings, the European Commission, CSS and NSS focused on work group discussions on (1) the Portal, (2) Pedagogy and (3) Communications. Discussions centred on the new developments in 2008 such as the launching of a new platform, communities of practice for schools to share knowledge and communication coordination activities between NSS and CSS.

Over the course of the three days, over 70 participants attended the meetings. From the EUN office, participants included Marc Durando, Santi Scimeca, Anne Gilleran, Christina Crawley, Anja Balanskat, Alexa Joyce, Evita Tasiopoulou, Bart Vanhulle and Sylvia Binger.